&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Your browser does not support iframes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
This is truly an embarrassment of riches. A second film record of Walter Potter's museum of curious taxidermy (see first one here), from the British Pathé website, this one from 1955. Click on the image to view the film!

Caption reads:

Bramber, Sussex.

M/S Walter Collins, grandson of original owner Walter Potter, arranging kittens which are all dressed in wedding clothes. A cat's wedding tableau. C/U Walter Collins with a cup from the kitten's tea party. He gives it a clean and then gives the whole tableaux a clean with a brush. (The narration says that he gives the collection two cleans a year to keep them in good condition)

C/U Walter cleaning the rats from "The Rat's Gambling Den Raid". C/U shots stuffed rats playing cards and dominoes. C/U shots of rabbits' village school. All the rabbits are in different poses at their desks with pens or books and some have different expressions on their faces.

Note: Potter's Museum is a bizarre collection from the Victorian period of mainly stuffed animals.

Thanks so much, Live in Your Head, for sending this one my way! Let this bring cheers to my compatriots on the East Coast who are weathering a hurricane right now!

A few days ago, I paid a visit to The Kokdu Museum, a small and charming museum here in Seoul devoted to the Korean tradition of kokdu, or painted wooden figures created to accompany the deceased on their treacherous journey through the afterlife. These figures would be placed--by the dozen, as it appears--on the ornate traditional funeral biers which carried the dead to their final resting place. From what I understand, all of the pieces on view in the museum were created in the late Joseon Dynasty, which dominated Korea from 1392 – 1897.

The kokdu figurines, as the museum text explains, are other-worldy creatures intended to assist the deceased in their transition through the afterlife. Some are guides, some protectors, some entertainers. They help to "soothe and calm our bewildered emotions while traveling the path of bereavement..." so long as the deceased "still remains in the area of between the 'already' and the 'yet.'"

Dragon and goblin heads are placed on the front and the back of the bier. The are intended to frighten evil spirits and signify the circularity of life and death.

The museum also had a wonderful miniature diorama depicting a funeral procession.

And a terrific (though small) temporary exhibition entitled "Afterlife, The Journey to the Other World." As the wall text explained:

The exhibition "Afterlife, The Journey to the Other World," was derived from traditional Korean belief, called Siwangsasang, which described that the deceased must go through ten after-death trials about his/her previous life.

Among those ten were seven commonly known trials, and people counted those days accordingly and had a memorial ritual on the 49th days of death.

Joseon dynasty was a strictly Confucianist era which greatly valued filial duites. Other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism and Shamanism were able to retain their power because Joseon people saw a great deal of filial duties in ancestral rites.

By studying Joseon dynasty (1392-1910)'s religious movement, we've learned that all these different religions and cultures melted in together and brought our culture a cultural synergy, which is known as the Medici Effect.

It is very interesting to learn how all these different religions and cultures combined and developed a new cultural nuance on the subject, the other world.

As mentioned earlier, this exhibition is based on these cultural influences regarding the other world and the afterlife. This exhibition was also greatly influenced by "With God," a web cartoon that depicts this other world as an interesting and realistic place.
With "With God" and KOKDU MUSEUM's old antiquities, this exhibition also introduced augmented reality technique and media art so that visitors can experience a mixture of art and science throughout the show.

This exhibit allowed visitors to travel through the afterlife, meeting each King of Hell and discovering both what traits he would judge you on and what were the possible punishments. Each stop on the journey was illustrated by traditional artworks depicting these Kings and their punishments as well as images from the "With God" web comic.

You can find out more about the The Kokdu Museum, by clicking here. Thanks very much to Professor Choi Tae Man of Kookmin University for recommending this museum to me!

For those interested in finding out more, I purchased a book from the museum--in English!--which will be available for viewing at The Morbid Anatomy Library when it reopens in early October.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I have some exciting news! The details for the premiere of Through the Weeping Glass--the Quay Brothers' new documentary based on the collections of books, instruments, and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mütter Museum--have just been announced!

The film will launch with three epic premieres--one in Philadelphia at the Mütter Museum, one in New York at MoMA, and one in Los Angeles hosted by The Museum of Jurassic Technology. Each city's event will feature a moderated talk with the Quays, while the Mütter Philadelphia opening will also--excitingly!--be accompanied by an exhibition at the museum on the making of the film guest curated by MoMA's Barbara London.

Full details from the press release follow; tickets are, I am warned, selling fast, so act quickly if you want to attend! Hope to see you there.

Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) New Quay Brothers short film to premiere September 2011 in Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles

“To call the Quays’ work the most original and rapturously vivid image-making on the planet might sound like hyperbole until you see the films. . . .” —Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) is a documentary on the collections of books, instruments, and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mütter Museum. This short film (running time: 31 minutes) is the first made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States.

As Malcolm Jones (Newsweek) has commented, “the Mütter Museum teaches you indelibly how strange life can be, how unpredictable and various [and] will revise and enlarge your idea of what it is to be human.” The coupling of the Quay Brothers’ vision with the collections of the College’s Historical Medical Library and Museum has produced a riveting experience of contemplative set pieces exploring the College and Mütter Museum. Adding to the film’s visual strength is a powerful musical score by composer Timothy Nelson and a resonant voice-over by Derek Jacobi.

The film premieres in three locations in September 2011, with a moderated conversation with the artists:

September 22, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 6:30 PM (more here)

An exhibition guest curated by Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, The Museum of Modern Art, on the making of the film opens in September 2011 in the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Subsequent to the premiere screenings, the film will be available for purchase on DVD with an accompanying booklet.

ABOUT THE QUAY BROTHERS
Two of the world’s most original filmmakers, the Quay Brothers are identical twins who were born outside Philadelphia in 1947. The Quays studied illustration in Philadelphia before going on to the Royal College of Art in London, where they began making animated shorts in the 1970s. They have lived in London ever since.

They are best known for their classic 1986 film Street of Crocodiles, which filmmaker Terry Gilliam selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time. In 1994 they made their first foray into live-action feature-length filmmaking with Institute Benjamenta. The Quays’ work also includes set design for theatre and opera, including their 1998 Tony-nominated set designs for Ionesco’s The Chairs on Broadway. The Quays have also directed pop promos for His Name Is Alive, Michael Penn, Sparklehorse, 16 Horsepower, and Peter Gabriel (contributing to his celebrated “Sledgehammer” video), and have also directed ground-breaking commercials for, Honeywell Computers, ICI Wood, K. P. Skips, Nikon, BBC, Coca-Cola, Northern Rock, Dorritos, Roundup, Kellogs, Badoit water, Galaxy, MTV, Nikon, Murphy’s beer and Slurpee, amongst others.

In 2000 they made In Absentia, an award-winning collaboration with Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as two dance films, Duet and The Sandman. In 2002 they contributed an animated dream sequence to Julie Taymor’s film Frida. The following year the Quays made four short films in collaboration with composer Steve Martland for a live event at the Tate Modern in London and in 2005 premiered their second feature film, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, at the Locarno Film Festival.

In addition to Through the Weeping Glass, the Quay Brothers’ other commissioned films over the past twenty years include Anamorphosis (1991), The Phantom Museum (2003), and Inventorium of Traces (2009).

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILADELPHIA AND THE MÜTTER MUSEUM
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest professional medical organization in the country, was founded in 1787 when twenty-four physicians gathered “to advance the science of medicine and to thereby lessen human misery.” Today more than 1,400 Fellows (elected members) continue to convene at the College and work towards better serving the public.

Throughout its two-hundred-year history, the College has provided a place for both medical professionals and the general public to learn about medicine as both a science and as an art. The College is home to the Historical Medical Library and the Mütter Museum, America’s finest museum of medical history, which displays its beautifully preserved collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments in a nineteenth-century setting. The museum helps the public understand the mysteries and beauty of the human body and to appreciate the history of diagnosis and treatment of disease.

With an attendance exceeding 105,000 today, the Museum has become internationally well known, has been featured in a documentary on the Discovery Channel, and is the subject of two best-selling books.

This project has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

You can find out more about the opening in Philadelphia by clicking here, New York by clicking here, and Los Angeles by clicking here. You can find out more about the film itself and the accompanying exhibition guest curated by MOMA's Barbara London by by clicking here.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Hi all. My sincere apologies for falling behind on Morbid Anatomy. I am currently living in Seoul, Korea as part of the very generous Apex Art Outbound Residency Program (thanks, Josh Foer!), and one of the obligations of the residency is to blog about my experiences. Sadly, this had taken my focus off Morbid Anatomy a bit.

I promise to do my best over this next month in Korea to get some Morbid Anatomy reportage done; in the meantime, if you are curious about what I am finding in Seoul, you can check out my Apex Art blog here.

Thanks for your patience, and I will be back in full force in mid-September!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Just got word of an interesting looking event/exhibition taking place this weekend in the ever fascinating Detroit. Full details follow:

In the Evening of the 12th and 13th Day of August 2011, it will be unveiled an extraordinary exposition of biological and medical exploration entitled Corpus Illuminata - An Anatomic Interpretation. Hosted within the District VII Gallery in Detroit, this unique event will consist of one part exhibition of anatomic-inspired artwork, one part museum of medical antiquities and one part academia of accredited presentations.

The exhibition portion will feature 33 artistic explorations from 24 artists local and across the nation. Within the museum portion, collectors of Victorian-era medical instruments, quackery and oddities will bring together their cherished pieces to re-create themed display rooms ranging from surgical to mortuary. On stage, various speakers will present and discuss a variety of topics that include human anatomy, psychology, the history of contraception, the chemistry of herbal supplements and other intriguing subject matters.

Video installations within the venue will be feature films and videos ranging from historical medical experimentations, human autopsies, artistic interpretations and more. The ambiance is supplied by Life Toward Twilight from the new CD "I Swear By All The Flowers", which explores memories from the end of the Nineteenth Century through a sound collage from antique sources, including music boxes, ticking grandfather clocks, steam trains, wax cylinder recordings, early mechanical factories and old voices. Also, gelatos, gelato floats and flavored teas, courtesy of the Detroit Tea Company, will be served within our apothecary-themed health bar.

The doors open at 6pm on both evenings until midnight and all ages are welcome, however discretion must be advised due to some graphic medical content.

I have just been alerted to a very exciting job opportunity that could well be the perfect job for the right person:

Friends and colleagues:

The Atlas Obscura is hiring an editor-in-chief to oversee content on our soon-to-be-relaunched web site. This will be a full-time position, working out of our offices in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Interested parties must know their orreries from their ossuaries. Applicants should send a cover letter and resume to info@atlasobscura.com.

Image: Bone Monstrance from the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic; found here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Film maker, friend, and many-time Observatory lecturer Ronni Thomas finds Observatory--the event and gallery space I founded with some friends in Brooklyn New York a few years back--inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that he has created a new web-based video series entitled "The Midnight Archive: Tales from the Observatory" which will use as a launching off point the events, classes, field trips and personalities to be found in this space.

This Friday night we will be hosting a launch party for The Midnight Archive at The Coney Island Museum as part of my ongoing exhibition The Great Coney Island Spectacularium; more on that party can be found here.

In the meantime, above is a teaser for the show, which features five Observatory presenters--including our self-taught anthropomorphic taxidermy and mummification instructors--and is graced by the music of Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld. And following is what auteur Ronni Thomas has to say about this new series and its inspiration:

About an ODD year ago, or so, i had the honor to lecture at the ever impressive Brooklyn Observatory in, well... Brooklyn, NY. I was amazed at the turnout - I could not believe so many people were interested in such strange topics. Talking to Joanna Ebenstein of Morbid Anatomy and the Observatory itself, it seemed apparent that there was a demand for a series on the exotic and the esoteric.

Hence - The Midnight Archive... Its not only a web series but a collection - so to speak - of some of the unique people, collections, careers and artifacts from the Observatory as well as around the world. Consider it a sampler, an Observatory Sampler - like those Whitman's Chocolate Samplers (only don't crush each of these to figure out whats inside). The Series launches Friday August 12th at Coney Island USA - for details please email ronni [at] themidnightarchive.com

Stay tuned for full episodes at themidnightarchive.com. For more on Friday's launch party--where at least one entire episode will be screened--click here. For more on Observatory--the space that inspired it all!--click here.

Friday, August 5, 2011

In just a few days, I am off to live for one month (!!!) in Seoul, South Korea as part of the fantastic Apex Art Outbound Residency Program. For those of you who are interested, I will be documenting my Korean adventures on a special blog for Apex Art; you can check that out by clicking here. I arrive in Seoul on September 16th, so blog entries should begin soon after.

But I have a more pressing question for you, dear readers: do any of you out there have any suggestions for suggested Korean sights, sounds, and tastes? Of particular interest, of course, are museums and collections--especially old natural history or anatomical/medical--but any suggestions, from foods to markets to restaurants to shops to national parks to amusement parks to folk art to fine art to curiosities of any kind, would be very much appreciated!

Next Friday, August 12th, please join Morbid Anatomy and The Coney Island Museum for a launch party celebrating The Midnight Archives: Tales From the Observatory, a new video series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from the Brooklyn Observatory." This project is the creation of many-time Observatory lecturer and film-maker Ronni Thomas, and promises to provide a fascinating and informative look into some of the topics explored by Observatory events past and future.

Another in a series of exciting events in the Coney Island Museum, the Great Coney Island Spectacularium invites you to the Midnight Archive LAUNCH PARTY with filmmaker and collector Ronni Thomas!

Join us for the launch of the web series The Midnight Archives: Tales From the Observatory. The series is the work of Ronni Thomas (Alias Ronni Raygun) of the IKA Collective and is centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from the Brooklyn Observatory. It attempts to briefly document some of the truly unique people, talents and objects from around the world who gather there on a weekly basis. Mummies, Taxidermy, 18th century robotics, early French demonic 3d horror... its all here.

Series creator Ronni Thomas will give a brief lecture followed by the screening of episode 1 "Petrifying Pets: Modern Day Mummies" (6 minutes) and a short montage reel.

You can find out more--and purchase tickets!--by clicking here. For more on The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, click here. More on Observatory here.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection at the Morris Museum is an astounding collection of automata (mechanical toys popular in the 18th and 19th century) and mechanical musical instruments that can be visited in--of all surprising places--Morristown, New Jersey. The collection is mind-blowingly vast; it is, in fact, the largest such public collection in the U. S. and one of the largest in the world, with around 700 automata and mechanical musical instruments and over 5,000 programmed media, nearly all of which are were produced in the 19th Century.

The highlight of the Morris Collection--in my opinion, at least!--is its extensive lot of fine 19th Century European automatons. Most of the pieces are in excellent repair and still able to go through their uncanny motions, and the scale, quality, and range of the collection are simply flabbergasting, the kind of thing you might consider yourself lucky to find in France (where many automata producers were based) but certainly not here on the East Coast of the United States.

The Morris Museum has just published a new book devoted to this collection.EntitledMusical Machines and Living Dolls: Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata from the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection, this book is a lovely little gem all its own; it is hardcover, full color throughout, beautifully printed, and well-researched. It also includes a well-researched overview of the history of automata from ancient times to the present and a biography of Murtogh D. Guinness, the heir to the Guinness beer fortune who amassed this collection and ultimately bequeathed it to the Morris Museum.

The book also--luckily for me!--features extensive text and scores of images (all images above are drawn from the book!) devoted to many of my favorite pieces in the collection, such as a number of 18th Century-style monkey dandies engaging in human activities (images 2, 3 & 4), 3 cats playing cards (image 5), a lute-playing Mephistopholes (image 7), an asp-suiciding Cleopatra (!!!) (image 6), performing tightrope walkers with orchestral accompaniment (image 9), a hookah-smoking Turk, singing birds, strutting peacocks, performing magicians, street vendors peddling their wares, and much, much more.

To give you a taste of the style and level of research to be found in this book, I include here the entire entry for the fascinating piece you see 6 images down, a late 19th century automaton entitled "The Suicide of Cleopatra":

Surrounded by a massive gilt frame, this animated scene would have dominated most parlors of the time. It depicts a highly sensual version of Queen Cleopatra of Egypt's supposed suicide in 30 B.C. When activated, her breast heaves, her eyelids blink--and an asp strikes.

Although made in the late 1800s, the scene reflects a long-standing Western fascination with Egypt, which had been renewed by Napoleon Bonaparte's occupation of the country at the turn of the nineteenth century. Along with tens of thousands of troops, Bonaparte brought with him scientists and scholars who recorded all that they saw. The Description de l'Egypte, which emerged from their research, became a source for artists, designers, architects, and others, and the ensuing widespread fascination spread from everything from furniture to parlor entertainment.

Morbid Anatomy is delighted to be assisting The Morris Museum in the distribution of this lovely and informative book, which contains images and information to be found nowhere else. The cost of the book is $40; shipping and handling within the United States is $5 and shipping and handling for international orders is $15. The book is 10 1/2" X 8 1/2" and runs to about 140 pages. As I am unable to get these books listed on Amazon.com, those interested in ordering a copy can contact me directly at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.

You can find out more about the Morris Museum--including how to visit the collection in person!--by clicking here. Also, stay tuned for a soon-to-be-announced second field trip to visit the collection. If interested in receiving an alert, subscribe to the Morbid Anatomy mailing list by adding your email address on the upper left-hand side of this blog under the header "Mailing List of Events, Happenings, and The Like."

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The BBC has just posted a lovely little narrated slide show about Henry Wellcome, founder of the Wellcome Trust and Library and compiler of one of the most extraordinary medical collections in the world. The piece is narrated by my friend Ross MacFarlane of the Wellcome Library, who is an unofficial specialist on Mr. Wellcome and his fabulous collection; you can check it out (highly recommended!) by clicking here.

All images taken from the slide show, and feature Wellcome's collection.

In today's class, learn the mummification process as described in the "Egyptian Book of the Dead" (Book of Coming Forth By Day). Instructor Sorceress Cagliastro will guide students in the use of the traditional materials--such as natron salts, canopic jars, oils and herbs, dried flowers and linen or gauze wraps--and traditional ritual--such as ritual of the opening of the mouth--in the creation of an authentic and perfectly respected animal mummy. Each student will leave class with an animal mummy of their own making.

Please note: No animals are harmed or killed for this class; the materials are found already deceased, obtained either from a food service such as a meat market that serves a clientele seeking intact animals, or from a pet feeder supply.

Sorceress Cagliastro has a background as a teacher, author, and forensic reconstructionist. She worked as a trade embalmer and spent many years of work at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.

Morbid Anatomy now has several additional copies of taxidermy collector/historian Pat Morris' lavishly illustrated taxidermic tomes A History of Taxidermy: Art, Science and Bad TasteandWalter Potter and his Museum of Taxidermyin stock and available for immediate sale.Morris' new and encylopedic History of Taxidermy: Art, Science and Bad Taste (pictured above in images 1-3) is an extensive (nearly 400 pages), large-format, and lavishly illustrated 4-color tome that details the entire history of the art, science, and sometimes questionable trends of taxidermy. This thoroughly-researched and liberally illustrated text discusses the earliest historical pieces, collections public and private, changing techniques throughout its history, human taxidermy (such as shrunken heads, Jeremy Bentham and other examples), anthropomorphic taxidermy and its roots at The Great Exhibition of 1851, the taxidermy and natural history craze of the 19th century, taxidermic kitsch, gentleman country house collections, and much, much, much more. Morris' other book (images 4-9) details the life and work of Walter Potter, the undisputed king of Victorian anthropomorphic taxidermy and artist behind unforgettable taxidermic tableaux depicting kitten tea parties, bunny schoolhouses, kitten croquet matches and more, not to mention founder of a museum dedicated to his own curious pieces. The book, entitled Walter Potter and his Museum of Taxidermyis large-format, full-color, and features scores of nearly impossible-to-find photographs of Potter's unforgettable works, archival photographs of the early museum, and antique and vintage ephemera related to the museum. The book is also extremely well researched, providing a through biography or Mr Potter, a detailed history of his museum of curious taxidermy, and the stories behind the making of his iconic pieces of anthropomorphic taxidermy.You can find out more about these books--and order copies of them--by clicking here. But supplies are limited, so order quickly!